All posts tagged Yahoo

It may seem odd on the face of it for Apple to want to partner up with Yahoo to get more of the latter’s products on the former’s phone. After all, its recent stock slide notwithstanding, Apple is still the coolest kid on the block, and the most profitable, while Yahoo is, well, Yahoo isn’t either. But in the tightly intertwined world of competition and cooperation that is Silicon Valley, these two working together isn’t so odd. It’s all about the “coopetition.”

It’s still just something the two companies are discussing, but the idea is this: Yahoo gets its services and products onto mobile phones and tablets, and Apple gets a services provider that isn’t named Google. Plus, the two don’t really compete that directly in their products and offerings, making for an easier mesh between the two. Spencer Ante stopped by the Markets Hub this morning to break down the possible deal.

Apple, meanwhile, has been looking to partner with companies to help reduce its reliance on Google’s mobile services. Apple’s desire to extract itself from Google runs deep. Apple, which last year ended partnerships with Google over maps and video, has explored breaking up on search for many years and its representatives recently met with companies that have search expertise, people familiar with the matter said.

Yahoo shares jumped in late trading after the company’s earnings came in far higher than the Street expected, but have been bouncing around on heavy volume as investors dig through the guts of report.

Shares were up 5% in late trading, then less than 2%, and now are up 4.5% at $21.22.

The company earned $272.3 million, or 23 cents a share, down from $295.6 million, or 24 cents, a year ago. Adjusted earnings, excluding costs associated with closing the Korea business, was 32 cents a share, far higher than the Street’s 27 cents projection. Revenue was $1.35 billion, up from $1.32 billion a year ago.

This was the company’s first full quarter under new CEO Marissa Mayer, who brought star power with her from Google. But Yahoo has myriad challenges, as some of the details of the report make clear. The ultimate test for Mayer won’t be an earnings report necessarily, but whether she can envision and execute on a plan to revive a company whose glory faded in the dot-com days.

You hear a lot about what’s going on at Apple, and Facebook, and Google and Microsoft and Groupon and even Dell these days. When was the last time you heard any breathless hype about a new product or service, or anything, out of Yahoo?

That in a nutshell illustrates the problem facing wunderkid CEO Marissa Mayer.

Investors will get a fresh chance to assess Yahoo’s progress when the company reports earnings after the bell this afternoon. Earnings are seen at 27 cents a share, above 24 cents a year ago, with sales at $1.2 billion, a hair above $1.17 billion a year ago.

Shares have touched the $20 level for the first time since 2008, largely on the hope represented by Mayer and amid the widespread market rally, but that is a far cry from the stock’s dot-com high of roughly $108. Yahoo’s earnings will provide investors with a progress report, but what they really want is a credible vision for the company’s future.

Yahoo 's earnings spiked on a big gain from the sale of the company’s stake in Alibaba, but apart from that earnings were still up from a year ago and above Street estimates, even as revenue was down slightly.

The shares are up in late trading, almost certainly on the beat, but while the company’s numbers all seem to add up, there also doesn’t seem to be anything in them that screams “turnaround in progress.” We’ll have to wait for the conference call, and commentary from new CEO Marissa Mayer, to get a sense of what these number actually mean.

For the third-quarter, Yahoo earned $3.16 billion, or $2.64 a share, 35 cents a share on an adjusted basis; that’s above last year’s $293 million, or 21 cents a share, and the Street’s projection of 25 cents a share.

Yahoo Inc. report earnings after the bell. Here are the important numbers and angles to keep in mind. All numbers are via Thomson Reuters.

Yahoo

Earnings: Street consensus is for third-quarter EPS of 25 cents, on revenue of $1.08 billion. A year ago, the company earned 21 cents a share, on sales of $1.22 billion.

Keep in mind: This will be newly minted CEO Marissa Mayer’s first quarterly earnings call (she was hired just before the last earnings report, but wasn’t on that call). Investors will get a chance to hear her side of the story and analyze her future turnaround plans for the beleaguered Internet company.

It’s been a depressing ride for Yahoo shareholders, as the company has cycled through CEOs and turnaround plans about as fast as the Cleveland Browns go through head coaches. The shares today have hit a new post-announcement low, treading around the $15 mark. Stifel’s Jordan Rohan today downgraded the shares to hold from buy, arguing a wait-and-see approach is warranted, given the company’s embarking upon yet another strategy shift. From Rohan’s note:

Recent disclosures suggest the conservative approach may be discarded– with CEO Mayer trying to reestablish Yahoo as a tech leader. This may lead to lower margins and may increase the likelihood of dilutive acquisitions. Separately, given the multiple contraction in Chinese equity markets, we believea slightly more conservative approach to valuation for Alibaba makes sense. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, during this period of uncertainty incorporate direction, a wait-and-see approach to the shares makes sense.

Yahoo shares are sliding in after-hours trading amid word that the company is engaging in a review of its business strategy.

The review, being conducted by new CEO Marissa Mayer may, change the company’s current plans for proceeds from the Alibaba sale, according to a filing with the SEC. Yahoo has said it would return most of the Alibaba cash to shareholders.

With a new CEO taking over a stagnant company, a review shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. Still, even the suggestion that the company is eyeballing that Alibaba hoard has investors nervous. Holders may have liked the hire of Meyer last month, but they also prefer getting the Alibaba money directly rather than trust the company to invest it wisely.

Yahoo shares are down 4.1% to $15.35 in late trading. The stock dropped 1% in the regular trading session.

Yahoo earnings slid 4.4% from a year ago, highlighting the problems incoming CEO Marissa Mayer faces as she tries to turn around the one-time tech titan.

The numbers are something of a split decision, and that’s being reflected in the stock’s after-hours moves. Shares have bounced higher and lower, now up 0.6% at $15.69.

For the second-quarter, the tech company earned $226.6 million, or 18 cents a share (27 cents, non-GAAP), on revenue of $1.22 billion. A year ago, the company earned $237 million, or 18 cents a share (19 cents, non-GAAP), on revenue of $1.23 billion.

Street consensus was that EPS would be 20 cents, 19 cents non-GAAP, on revenue of $1.24 billion.

While overall revenue was down slightly from a year ago, Display revenue rose — $534.9 million vs. $523.5 million — while Search revenue slipped — $460.9 million vs. $466.7 million (the other revenue category, appropriately called “Other,” also saw a decline, $221.9 million vs. $238.8).

Tech titans Intel and Yahoo report earnings after the bell. Here are the important numbers and angles you should keep in mind. All data courtesy of FactSet.

Yahoo:

Street consensus is for EPS of 20 cents, 19 cents non-GAAP, on revenue of $1.24 billion. A year ago, the company earned 18 cents a share (19 cents, non-GAAP), on revenue of $1.23 billion.

For Yahoo, yesterday’s news that it hired a new CEO, Marissa Mayer, means less of the focus will be on these earnings.

Unless the numbers are an absolute horror show, the story now is Mayer and whatever strategic vision she plans to implement. That won’t be laid out today, to be sure, but just the fact that there’s a new occupant behind the big desk buys the company time. (On the other hand, maybe they timed the announcement yesterday because they knew today would be a horror show. We’ll know soon enough.)

We kid, of course, but the reality for Marissa Mayer is that the Yahoo CEO post has turned into the most used revolving door in Silicon Valley, and that in itself is a sign of how deep and entrenched Yahoo’s problems have become. Neither Mayer nor Tom Hanks can single-handedly turn this company around.

And Tom Hanks has won Oscars, for crying out loud.

The market wasn’t blown away by the choice of Mayer. The stock is down slightly, on a day when the Dow is up over 80 points. But nobody’s going to rush to judgement either way. She’s expected to be on this evening’s conference call, and the reaction she gets will be almost as important as what she says.

Yahoo’s been quite the story to follow, but all the high-profile machinations on the board, the proxy fight with Daniel Loeb, and all the failed strategic plans haven’t answered one fundamental question: what’s Yahoo do to make itself relevant again?

Yahoo has a new CEO, and valuable chunks of Asian companies like Alibaba, but it still hasn’t found a new strategic direction that will make the company a significant player again.

George Stahl stopped by the Markets Hub desk this morning to discuss the company’s old CEO, new CEO, and what the company needs to do to carve out a viable future for itself.

Yahoo’s leadership remains as dysfunctional as ever, the board still has to be remade, and yet another chief executive will likely need to be found in order to arrest the online portal’s decline. Rolfe Winkler has details on Markets Hub.

IBM:

Keep in Mind: Big Blue is coming off a quarter in which overall revenue growth slowed. Software and services revenue increased, but growth in its hardware business declined. Also keep an eye on hints the company may drop regarding future acquisitions. Earlier today, IBM was selling its “point-of-sale” terminal operations to Toshiba for about $850 million.

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Global investment banks got a second-quarter revenue boost from a surge in Asian stock trading. But given China’s market volatility and stock declines in some other countries, those revenue gains may be hard to replicate.